Take Care
by beauty.everywhere
Summary: A quick Solangelo fic that takes place after BoO. Written because I wanted Will and Nico to have a concrete story after their interactions before and after Nico admitting to Percy how he felt.


**Hello, everyone! It's been ages since I've written. The last time I wrote, about three years ago (2012), was in middle school, for a story that I never followed up with. I've since deleted both stories on my account for hope that no one ever remembers how horrid my writing was. Since the first few months of 2012, when I last was active on this account, I've gone through nearly two years of high school, written a lot more poetry and creative writing, but a lot fewer stories, and changed around fandoms nearly as much as I, myself, have changed. Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: All rights belong to Rick Riordan.  
**

* * *

" _I'm not your type…Wait. So –"_

" _See you around, Percy," Nico said. "Annabeth."_

 _She raised her hand for a high five._

 _Nico obliged. Then he walked back across the green, where Will Solace was waiting.  
_

* * *

Will smiled at Nico as the dark boy made his way back to him, eliciting the feeling of skeletal butterflies resurrecting in his stomach once again. Nico hesitated. "What?"

"Nothing," Will shrugged, smile still on his face. "It's good to have friends like that. Percy and Annabeth, especially. All members of the quest are good people." His blue eyes looked to Nico's brown ones for a moment before straightening his posture.

"C'mon. Your three days of rest have officially started." Will took Nico's hand, and led him into the infirmary. Nico was too flustered to protest.

The boys were inundated by the numerous people who filled the hospital. Nico had never ventured inside, assuming that a son of Hades would be the last thing any sane sick person would wish to see while they were being treated. Will still hadn't let go of Nico's hand. Nico couldn't focus on anything else, nearly forgetting his worries about aggravating the patients.

Will led the boy through the building to the back rooms, where most patients seemed to be nearly fine, if not purely exhausted. The structure of the infirmary was almost like a spectrum; the sickest people, the ones who needed the most attention, were staying near to the entrances. As the patients' ailments lessened, their spots were pushed back towards the secluded rooms. Will stopped short in front of a hospital bed. He looked at Nico, expectant.

"Yes?" Nico inquired.

"This is yours. Get in." Will said, simply, gesturing to the bed.

Nico looked at Will, eyebrows drawn taut. "What if I need something?"

"Do you know what a hospital is? I know you don't like to ask for help, but you're not dense enough to forget that the whole point of an infirmary, of _healing people,_ is to help –"

Nico rolled his eyes. "I mean, like, something of mine. From my cabin."

Will met his gaze with sass of his own. "If you need something, I'll deal with it. I'm here to take care of you."

Nico swallowed, blushing at the Apollo boy's obvious care. He clamored into the bed, taking off his shoes and jacket before getting under the sheets. "Okay." He muttered.

Will's smirk displayed wordless feelings of pride at getting Nico to rest. The dark eyes were already closing. "Goodnight, diAngelo."

He turned to leave, but paused when he heard a quiet response. "Goodnight, Solace."

Will continued to work, a small smile present on his face for the rest of his day.

The next time Will saw Nico, the son of Hades was snoring. His mouth was slightly open, but it was the most peaceful he had ever looked.

The son of Apollo settled into a spot at the end of the bed, looking down at the pale boy. His tanned skin seemed darker than normal as he placed the back of his hand to Nico's forehead, feeling his temperature. His skin was always cooler than normal, but since the battle, he was constantly warm.

Will took the glass atop of the table near Nico's head and filled it with water. He also took a towel from the spare pile and rinsed it with water, wringing it out, folding it, and placing it on Nico's forehead, where his hand had been moments before. The sigh of relief that escaped Nico's parted lips told Will that the care was going well.

"You've got to start taking better care of yourself." Will whispered into the quiet. It was nearing nightfall, so the hospital was nearly empty of the healers.

Nico started mumbling in his sleep, something incoherent that Will couldn't understand. He took Nico's hand in his, squeezing it slightly. The noises were becoming more coherent, almost like he was calling for someone –

"Will?" Nico's voice was scratchy as he called out. "Is that –" He paused, in order to cough. Will handed him the glass of water.

"Yeah, it's me." Once Nico downed the water, Will took the cup with his free hand, as the other hand was still holding Nico's.

The dark eyes, still clouded with sleep, began to focus in on reality. "Are you holding my hand?"

Will looked down at their fingers. "Yep."

"Why?" Nico's eyebrows raised.

"It offers stability." Will shrugged again, nonchalantly. "You seemed out of it."

"Seeing as I was _asleep,_ I'd agree."

Will laughed and glared at the boy. "I mean that you were fading. Like you were shadow-traveling, but you weren't consciously doing it." His blue eyes became alight with worry. "It's definitely better than when you first came back to camp, at least."

Nico shifted in the cot, not used to the attention and care Will was giving him. "Well, I guess that's good."

Will squeezed his hand again. "It is good. We need you around for as long as possible." A flush of pink on both boys' cheeks could be seen in the slight moonlight shining through the infirmary. Will cleared his throat.

"Well, uh, I'll see you later." He dropped Nico's hand onto the mattress. "Get some more rest."

"What else do you think I'm gonna do?"

Will chortled as he turned and left once more.

The next two days passed by with more of the same. Will would go through his work, looking after as many people as he could. Nico slept for the majority of the time, but when he could, he watched Will working.

He was intrigued by the boy. No one had ever made Nico feel this way. No one had ever cared about him, looked after his well-being so intently. The butterflies in his stomach hadn't left since Will had first looked at him after the battle. The only time he could remember feeling this way was with Percy, when his crush was first starting to form.

As he came to this realization on the final day of his bedrest, he let out a small gasp. He know he hadn't made much noise, but Will was by his side within seconds.

"What's wrong?" Will tilted his head to the side slightly as his tongue peered out of his mouth, the way he did when he was truly worried.

"Nothing." Nico shifted, pushing himself up in the hospital bed. "You know, you tilt your head to the side and stick out your tongue when you get worried."

"I do not." Will replied, indignantly. Hesitantly, he straightened his head and tucked his tongue back into his mouth. Nico smirked.

"Yeah, you do."

Will stuck his tongue out, fully, in Nico's direction. "Anyway. Back to you. What's up?"

"Nothing, I promise." Nico shook his head, trying to get his dark hair out of his eyes. "I'm almost done spending time in here."

Will offered a tight-lipped smile. He was glad Nico was nearly recovered, but he wanted to spend more time with him. They had never really spoken before the past week, and Will was beginning to see the parts of his day where Nico was involved to be the best parts. "Yeah. I guess I won't see you that much anymore."

"Oh, shut up." Will looked to Nico, confused. "I'll see you around. There's gotta be something I can do to pay you back for the past few days."

"No, you don't have to 'pay me back' for anything. I want to help, and you needed it."

"Will! Help, please, over here!" Kayla, Will's half-sister, called from near the hospital entrance, where a commotion could be heard.

Nico nodded to Will, encouraging him to go. "I'll see you later."

Will bit his lip, frowning as he left again.

The next time the boys had a chance to talk for more than five minutes was a week after Nico's final bedrest day. Most of the campers had been cleared from the infirmary within that time. In fact, Will was walking the last patient from the battle back to their cabin when Nico saw him.

"You'll get that youthful glow you were gifted from by your mother back soon enough, okay? Just let yourself heal up." Will steadied the other blonde boy from tripping over the threshold of the Hebe cabin. "I'll see you around." He said as a farewell, with a smile.

Nico's thoughts didn't even give him a chance. He immediately thought of that "youthful glow" Will was talking about. He knew Hebe was the goddess of youth, but what if Will wanted someone who looked like that? He was the opposite of Nico. He was like Will – handsome, caring, jubilant, popular…

As Nico turned, resigning himself to not greeting Will and slinking back into his lonely cabin, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He smelled lemon and pine before he registered the hand leading to a freckled, smiling face which he hadn't been able to stop thinking about for a week.

"Hi!" Will's blue eyes lit up as Nico turned. "I'm off duty for the first time in days!" He lifted his hands up, palms open.

Nico tried not to smile. He turned back towards his cabin again. "I'm sure there's a lot you should go do, first time being off, and all –"

"Uh-uh. I haven't seen you since you were released, Mister 'I'll-See-You-Around.' You owe me." There was still a trace of a smile on Will's giggling face.

"Okay, Mister 'Caring-Is-My-Job-Nico-You-Don't-Owe-Me-Anything.' What can I do for you?"

"I miss talking to you. Let's go on a walk and catch up?" Will hoped Nico couldn't hear his heart hammering inside his chest; the reverberations certainly seemed like everyone from here to New Rome could feel his pulse every time he laid eyes on Nico diAngelo.

Nico actually agreed, surprising Will. "Yeah. I'd like that." He added, quietly.

They caught up with each other with what had happened in their lives within the past days. Nico talked about training, growing closer to his friends, redecorating the cabin as best he could, with Piper's help, and normal camp life. Will mainly told stories of his half-siblings and people from the infirmary.

"So, then, Kayla tried to tell me that Ed Sheeran was better than Bruce Springsteen, and this was all when I was literally feeding the patient ambrosia, like, could she have waited just a few more minutes? Anyway, I had to look her in the eyes and explain that there's this concept of two people being equally awesome." Nico giggled, enjoying the way Will told stories. They had been so caught up in each other's stories that neither of them had noticed the sun, setting into the night sky.

"Hey, it seems like we've walked around the entire camp." Nico gestured to the Dining Pavilion next to them, nearly where they had begun their walk.

"Yeah, it's probably time for dinner. But, I don't want to stop talking with you." Will admitted.

"I don't want to stop talking either. We don't know much about each other, and I like getting to know you." Nico smiled.

"Yeah, we really don't." Will agreed.

"But, I'm hungry." Nico said, as his stomach rumbled.

"Well, before we go to eat, can I just ask you something?" Will questioned, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Shoot."

Will figured he should put an end to his misery. All he had wanted to know for the past week was whether the male whom he saw in his dreams was having the same thoughts as him. The worst he could say was no, right? Even if it would hurt like Hades himself. "Do you like me?"

Nico gasped at the bluntness of his question. The pair was standing off to the side of the entrance, voices just above audible level, hardly able to hear over the typical dinner noise inside of the Pavilion. His response was just above a whisper. "Well, um, I mean – I – yeah, I do." He scrunched his face at the ground, but looked up when he heard Will's exclamation of joy.

Will's face was full of happiness, apparent to anyone who looked at him. His eyes sparkled brighter than the stars which were coming in view as the time passed by. "Well, seeing as I like you, too, do you want to go out sometime?"

Nico squealed slightly, covering it up quickly with a cough. "Yeah, that would be good. I'd like that, a lot." He looked the happiest Will had seen him yet.

The boys strolled into dinner, holding hands. They looked at each other before making to go to their respective tables, but were soon met with exclamations and clapping.

"Finally!" Piper called, as most of the cabins and Jason whooped. The Apollo cabin was giving the boys a standing ovation, standing on their seats, trying their best to embarrass their half-brother. Annabeth was clapping, too, and so was Percy, but Percy seemed to be slightly downcast. Nico thought he could make out the words "not his type" from Poseidon's son.

"Wait, you guys all knew?" Will asked.

"You two are about the least subtle people in this camp. And we're including Percy and Annabeth." Clarisse explained. "Everyone knew you guys liked each other."

The boys' pink cheeks blossomed red. They smiled at each other, and went to grab food.

Later that night, the camp would be woken up by Will triggering the trap set by the Stoll brothers on his way to Nico's cabin. Not that Will particularly minded. Nico said he looked cute with whipped cream all over his face.


End file.
